


The missing wolf

by Ecc0craft



Series: Overwatch Hub [6]
Category: Crysis Series (Video Games), Overwatch (Video Game), Paladins: Champions Of The Realm (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Gen, Hunting for the Truth, Mentor Viktor, Missing Persons, Multi, Shady Pasts, Uneasy Allies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-07-14 06:44:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16035116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ecc0craft/pseuds/Ecc0craft
Summary: Zarya’s mentor goes missing and she must find him before someone...or something else does. Lynx Seventeen is happy to help.





	The missing wolf

**Author's Note:**

> Another one of my Hub spin-off stories. I am using Viktor and his place in the Expendables as a way to eventually lead Zarya to Overwatch and the hub.
> 
> Also we are talking OG Viktor and not the visual rework. Pretty boy Viktor is his past self. Maybe 30 years ago in the Omnic Crisis.

You are strong, Aleksandra, but champions are made by the paths they choose not the powers they were graced with, never forget that.

The old man had spoken those words when Zarya came home from her first weightlifting competition, without a trophy and with a strained shoulder. He had meant them as words of encouragement but at the time Zarya had given no thought to what they meant. That was until the Siberian Omnium reared its ugly head and sent a swarm of drones to destroy her home town. 

She was at a competition at the time and she was winning. She would have been a world champion if she had stayed. Instead, she chose to return home and enlist in the fight against the machines. Defending the motherland was more important to Zarya than any life of fame or fortune.

The old man had been a soldier in the crisis many years before, after the attack he reenlisted and fought at Zarya's side. They fought for many months on the front together, during that time a bond was struck. 

Even when the Omnium retreated back into the dark hole it crawled out of and the troops moved back, Zarya had kept contact. She'd even drop by the old soldier's cabin back in their village to drink and and shoot and laugh.

Sometimes he was there to greet her and sometimes he wasn't but this time was different...

“волк!” Zarya shouted as she dug through the burnt and twisted remains of the old man’s cabin. She felt in her gut that she would get no reply but still she called his name. “Viktor!”

Just as she expected, she was only answered with silence. The embers of the fire were cold and signs of life were none. 

She knew that there was something going on with her old comrade. He had been evasive and more paranoid than usual. He had also spent an unhealthy amount of time at the computer; for someone who hated technology as much as he did, that was very strange. 

Now...now he was gone without a trace. Nothing was missing from the cabin except for Viktor’s rifle and his body. The old man had to of left in a hurry and, going by the damage done to the place, had set the fire himself to destroy something. What that something could have been was a complete mystery.

Under the melted remains of the sofa, Zarya found a clue. A floor safe that was open and empty, say for a single crumpled paper with a phone number scribbled on the back. Zarya wiped her soot covered hands on her pants and strode out of the ruin. She punched the number into her phone immediately but it went straight to an automated answering machine.

What is the music of life?

Zarya didn’t know what to say and the call went dead after a few seconds. Lady Volskaya was not going to like this; Viktor was an asset that she couldn’t afford to lose. Not that Zarya was so worried on account for Volskaya. 

Talon’s pet hacker, Sombra, had revealed that Volskaya had done business with the enemy. Sombra had dirt on lots of important people. If that sneaky little Bitch was involved in this, if she had threatened Viktor, then Zarya was going to tear her arms off.

Viktor was in the wind but if anyone could find him it would be a certain Omnic tech except in Numbani. Zarya had mixed feelings about asking Lynx for help, she didn’t like asking for help at the best of times, it was worse when it came to the Omnic. She didn’t want to owe them anything.

 

—-/-////—/—-  
Message To: Lynx 17

Zarya- I’m calling in that favor you owe me, Omnic.

Lynx- Aleksandra Zaryanova, now how is my favorite pink haired weightlifter?

Zarya- I need your help to find someone. His name is Viktor волк, Former Russian Sentinel.

Lynx- Another one of Lady Volskaya’s enemies?

Zarya- No...he’s a friend. He vanished from his home less than a week ago. Looks like he disappeared by his own will.

Lynx- Man on the run, how exciting! I’ll see what I can do.

Zarya- I am coming to you, we meet in two days.

Lynx- Oh, a house call? How scandalous.

Zarya- Don’t get wrong idea, I just want you where I can see you.  
——///————

 

Numbani, the city that claimed to be a haven where humans and Omnics lived in harmony, was not a place Zarya wanted to spend any extended amount of time in. The people that lived here were fools to trust the Omnics. The robots had nearly destroyed the world once and were on the brink of doing it again. These people were completely ignoring the past and all the blood shed by Zarya’s people. 

Then again, that made Zarya a fool for trusting Lynx 17. She didn’t like the Omnic but they had helped her track down Sombra so that counted for something.

She arrived at Lynx’s door just after sunset on the second day. She raised her hand to knock but before she could the door slid open and she was pulled inside.

“What the HELL?!” Zarya barked at Lynx as the door slid closed and they bolted three locks over it.

“You’re here! Were you followed?” Lynx buzzed nervously.

Zarya Let out a huff. “Followed? What do you mean, Omnic?”

Lynx looked from side to side, antenna twitching. “I...I did what you asked and...I started getting phone calls...”

“Was it this number?” Zarya asked, showing Lynx the scrap of paper from the cabin.

“No...But a synthesized voice said I shouldn’t help you.” Lynx explained. “And I have seen a strange black and green Omnic wherever I go. I think it’s following me...”

Zarya raised an eyebrow at that. “How would anyone know you are helping me?”

“I don’t know...I haven’t mentioned you to anyone, not even my sources.” Lynx pulled up a holographic image of Sombra. “She and Lady Volskaya are the only ones that know we’re acquaintances.”

Sombra was beginning to look like even more of a suspect, it did seem like something she would do. “Doesn’t matter right now, did you find волк? Or have you been scared away by the phone call?”

“No...I’m not scared.” Lynx’s antennae drooped down in annoyance. “I haven’t found a location because I’m sure he’s still on the move. I learned a few troubling things about your friend too.”

“Troubling How?” Zarya grumbled. “I know he has a checkered past with the military...”

“Forced into retirement from the sentinels for leading a mission that went catastrophically wrong, counts as checkered.”

“How is it relevant?” Zarya grumbled. She already knew this story, Viktor never hid his past. He took the fall for the mission’s failure and was stripped of his rank, but that didn’t make him any less of a soldier.

Lynx changed the holographic display to show files on Viktor and several others. “Well it looks like he fell in with an unsavory crowd after retirement. This Group of hired guns has your friend in the ranks.”

“You think Viktor has gone to them...why?” Zarya asked. Viktor was not the type to leave without explanation, he was one of the most straight forward people she knew.

“Talk on the grape vine says that there has just been a massive power shift. Something has people riled up, you might say that power pieces are moving across the board. You saw what happened in China the other day...”

“Overwatch has nothing to do with Viktor. He was never part of that organization.” Zarya grunted. Dismissing the highly televised shootout between Overwatch and Talon.

“Zarya, everything here is connected...like a giant web.” Lynx continued. They gestured back to the holographic images of Viktor’s team. “These two men at the top, Laurence Barns and Michael Sykes, are super soldiers part of the same classified program as Overwatch founding members: Jack Morrison and Gabriel Reyes.”

“Wait, I’ve heard of them. Barns is the man who destroyed the Omnium in New York during the Crisis.” Zarya trailed off. She had a lot of respect for the man called Prophet. “And Sykes fought on the Korean front. Viktor was there too...he never mentioned that he knew them.”

“Did he even mention a Salty Sea Captain?” Lynx asked. “Or any assassins?”

“No.” Zarya shook her head. “Viktor doesn’t like association with Assassins, says stabbing someone in the back or killing them while they sleep is the work of cowards.”

“Well he associates with at least two. One is a sniper that uses similar tactics to Talon and is rumored to be on Talon’s recruitment list.” Lynx punched in a code and brought up several grainy photos. Viktor could be seen in one of them, standing next to the before mentioned, Prophet and Sykes. There were four others standing around them all men with varying heights and builds but that was all Zarya could tell with the quality of the photo. “The other is Yakuza, credited with assassinations all over Japan, including killing the Scion to Hanamura. Shimadas and Talon have been connected since his death.”

“Does any of this help me find Viktor?”

“Yes, these people all operate through a Guild, I was going to contact the Guild leaders and get possible locations but then the phone calls started. Someone doesn’t want us on the trail." There was a knocking at he door that made Lynx jump, antenna going straight up in alert mode. "I'm not expecting anyone..."

"Stay behind me." Zarya got between Lynx and the door. The knocking continued. "I will see who it is."

"Be careful, It could be that omnic." Lynx warned.

Zarya reached the door and looked out the peep hole. She was able to register a green glow before the door was blown off its hinges and sent flying into her and then into the wall.

"Zarya!" Lynx shouted in horror. They froze as the omnic from before stepped over the threshold with heavy boots. It wore an ash grey leather coat with a high collar and a long tail that billowed outward but most striking was the strange horned headpiece and the enormous revolver that it carried. Lynxs wasn't sure it an omnic now that they saw it up close, it was...something else.

"The woman is already here, now that's convenient. Two for the price of one." It said in a gravely synthesized voice. 

Lynx punched in a code on their display and put up a shields trapping the intruder. "We are more trouble to you than whatever your pay is." Lynx buzzed, as they darted to where Zarya was.

"I'm fine..." Zarya barked when Lynx began to fuss about the burns on her arms.

The intruder tapped an ashen finger against the shield, grunting in amusement as the hard light burned it. “Clever. Does this span the entire house?”

“You’re after Mr. Волк.” Lynx observed to which the intruder cackled. 

Zarya grit her teeth, and made her hands into fists. “What have you done!”

“Oh, but that would be telling.” Ash gathered around him in a menacing cloud. “Darkness descends!” he shouted as he lunged at the shield. 

To the horror of both Lynx and Zarya he passed right through it. Zarya charged forward to meet him but he pushed back with inhuman strength. The likes Zarya had not encountered before. With her own considerable strength she managed to twist his arm, earning her a guttural shriek from the intruder as she wrestled him to the floor. Like with the shield, he slipped from her grip in a cloud of ash materializing on the other side of the room with his gun at the ready. Zarya grabbed Lynx by the arm bubbling them both before ramming into the intruder. He dashed evasively out of her charge but she kept running straight out the open door. Shots from a revolver bounced off her barrier as the intruder gave chase.

“Hide, flee- it won't save you!” He bellowed after them.

“What the hell is that thing?!” Lynx shouted, now tucked under Zarya’s arm as she picked up her pace.

“I don’t know.” Zarya replied. That was the reason she chose to run and not fight. The intruder could almost match her in strength and become ash at will, she had no idea what she was dealing with. The closest thing she could think of was the description of Reaper, Talon’s most efficient killer. The dark coat and the strange abilities were a dead ringer but the revolver and the headpiece were all wrong.

“He’s gaining on us!” Lynx warned and when Zarya looked over her shoulder the intruder was pursuing with amazing speed. His legs didn’t look to touch the ground as he dashed forward in a green haze.

The citizens of Numbani gasped and screamed but he barely took notice of them. He was to focused on his targets. That must have been the reason he didn’t dodge the car that crashed straight into him. It sent him sprawling into a fire hydrant which shot out water on impact. The car speed up to Zarya and Lynx, opening the driver and passenger side doors. Shockingly the seats were both empty. 

“Get in!” A female voice said from one of the speakers. When Zarya and Lynx didn’t it repeated itself. “GET IN!”

Lynx jumped in first, taking the driver seat. Zarya climbed into the cramped passenger seat, barely able to fit with her long legs. The doors closed and Zarya saw their attacker getting back up in the rear-view mirror. What the hell did it take to kill this thing?

Before she could dwell on the question the car took off, speeding for the edge of the city. Lynx was busy typing on their hollopad, trying to access the vehicle’s on-board computer. A few seconds passed and a purple sugar skull showed up on the display.

“Sombra!” Lynx and Zarya said in unison.

“Hola, mi amigos.” Her voice laughed through the speakers.

“I knew you had something to do with this!” Zarya growled.

“Geeze, I go through the trouble of saving your lives and not even a thank you.”

“I’m sure you only did it to extort us.” Lynx grumbled, crossing their arms. They were still quite upset about her hacking them at their last encounter.

“Not at the moment.” Sombra’s smirk was audible. “This time we a common enemy.”

“Common enemy? So, you know who that monster was?” Zarya leaned forward in the tiny seat. “Does that also mean you know where my friend Viktor is?”

“That ‘monster’ is called Androxus. From what I can tell he’s an oasis experiment gone wrong. And as for your friend, you have just landed yourself in a world of trouble by trying to find him.” Sombra made a slurping sound like she was having a casual drink before she continued. “There is a history here. One that traces back to a year ago in Thailand. Something happened there that changed the direction of current events. If I’m right, my nemesis orchestrated the whole thing. They are also the one after Viktor, since all my sources say he was there.”

“So what do you really want from us?” Zarya asked irritably.

Sombra let out a sigh that crackled in the microphone. “Isn’t it obvious? I want your help.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I Kinda like writing the Lynx and Zarya dynamic so I might do more.


End file.
